Mike Pence and Jeff Flake were once close friends. But then Donald Trump rose to power.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence took a gamble when he joined Donald Trump's presidential campaign, but now political experts say he could play an influential role as the nation's next vice president. (Dwight Adams/IndyStar)
Wochit

Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., were close colleagues in the mid-2000s but have taken different paths when it comes to Donald Trump.
They are seen speaking with reporters outside the White House after meeting with President George W. Bush in April of 2005.(Photo: Lawrence Jackson/AP)

Donald Trump's rise to the presidency has left many political casualties in its wake.

But perhaps none has been so visible or significant as the once-strong friendship between Vice President Mike Pence and Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Politico reported.

Flake, a noted Trump critic, and Pence had once shared many things in common. They saw themselves as "gentleman conservatives," Politico said, known for personal decency, who both led intra-party rebellions against the big-spending tendencies of former Republican President George W. Bush.

That began to change one day early in July of 2016 during the presidential campaign, when GOP front-runner Trump and Flake were embroiled in a heated exchange as Trump arrived in Washington, D.C., to be greeted by Senate Republicans.

This is how Tim Alberta of Politico described the scene:

The niceties came to a sudden halt when Trump singled out one of them — Jeff Flake — for having criticized his candidacy. “Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona, the one that wasn’t captured,” Flake responded, referring to Trump’s infamous assessment that John McCain was “not a war hero” and that he preferred “people who weren’t captured.” Flake, who was meeting Trump face to face for the first time that day, told the soon-to-be-nominee: “I want to talk to you about statements like that.”

A week later, reports surfaced that Pence, then Indiana's governor, would be Trump's running mate. Mike and Karen Pence were soon whisked away to New York, where he was introduced as the vice presidential candidate. A week later, Pence was confirmed as the vice presidential nominee in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention.

His friendship with Flake unraveled further as Pence solidified his position in Trump's inner circle and Flake continued his role as an outsider.

For instance, Flake had not planned to attend the GOP Convention; he didn't want to be seen as endorsing Trump's candidacy. He nearly reconsidered when he heard Pence was to be nominated as vice president but ultimately stayed away. Flake's decision not to attend stung Pence, the vice president's friends said, according to Politico. Their friendship never recovered.

As time went on, Flake wrote a book criticizing Trump, saw his popularity in Arizona steadily erode and finally announced in October that he wouldn't run for re-election in 2018. During his famous retirement speech on the Senate floor, Flake criticized what he called the "discord" and "dysfunction" ruining the American democratic system and chastised Trump, though not mentioning him by name, for his indecency and his “reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior.”

Trump, for his part, didn't let Flake's criticisms of him go unanswered.

Pence and Flake did have at least one light moment left between them, however.

According to Politico, Flake did reach out to his old friend twice when Pence was in Arizona. There was the time that Pence and Flake had a short, awkward meeting at the airport, since Flake had refused to attend a Trump-Pence campaign rally.

Here is what Alberta wrote about the second overture:

When Pence visited a church in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, the senator texted to remind him that he would be campaigning less than a mile from Flake’s home. “Can you help me trim some hedges?” Flake asked. Pence replied: “As long as we can carve in ‘Trump-Pence’ in the hedge.” Flake says he texted him back: “Small hedge. Only have room for ‘Pence.’” How did Pence respond? “Ha, ha.”

A woman wearing an Indiana University sweatshirt watches as Mike Pence and his family approach during the Inaugural Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar

Vice President Mike Pence walks with his family in the Inaugural Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, with the Washington Monument seen in the background, Washington, D.C., Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar

A woman wearing an Indiana University sweatshirt watches as Mike Pence and his family approach during the Inaugural Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar